Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in Centrus Energy Corp. $LEU

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU) by 14.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 895,867 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 114,881 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 4.92% of Centrus Energy worth $217,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Centrus Energy by 309.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 34,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,776,000 after buying an additional 26,257 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Centrus Energy by 78.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 442,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,132,000 after buying an additional 194,909 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Centrus Energy by 16,538.1% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 101,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,598,000 after buying an additional 100,717 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Centrus Energy by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 53,766 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,052,000 after buying an additional 7,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of Centrus Energy by 232.9% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 19,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,195,000 after buying an additional 13,976 shares in the last quarter. 49.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LEU has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Centrus Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Centrus Energy from $224.00 to $218.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Centrus Energy from $245.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Centrus Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, B. Riley Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Centrus Energy from $315.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Centrus Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $268.18.

Centrus Energy Price Performance

Centrus Energy stock opened at $162.73 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $189.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $225.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a PE ratio of 53.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 19.63 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 5.72, a quick ratio of 4.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. Centrus Energy Corp. has a 12-month low of $144.65 and a 12-month high of $464.25.

Centrus Energy (NYSE:LEU) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $76.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.13 million. Centrus Energy had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 13.10%. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Centrus Energy Corp. will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Todd M. Tinelli sold 306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.55, for a total value of $62,286.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

About Centrus Energy

Centrus Energy Corp is a U.S.-based supplier of nuclear fuel and enrichment services, specializing in the production of low-enriched uranium (LEU) for commercial power reactors and highly enriched uranium for naval propulsion. Through its Centrus Global subsidiary, the company provides technical support, fuel fabrication services and recycled uranium products to utilities operating light-water reactors. Centrus also develops advanced centrifuge technologies aimed at improving enrichment efficiency and reducing the cost of nuclear fuel.

Originally founded as the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) in 1998 following a spin-out from the U.S.